Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales Announces Expansion
of Justice Department Efforts and Proposes New Legislation
to Help Prevent and Combat Violent Crime

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales today, speaking before
employees at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF),
unveiled new cities designated for targeted federal violent crime task
forces
and announced new comprehensive legislation that strengthens federal laws
targeting
violent criminals as part of the Department’s expanding efforts to fight
violent crime.

“Keeping America’s neighborhoods safe is one of the central functions
of government at all levels,” said Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
“Today’s
new task forces are a part of our expanded efforts and commitment by the
Department
of Justice to support state and local law enforcement in the fight against
violent
crime. The legislation we have proposed today will make it easier for
federal
investigators and prosecutors to take dangerous criminals off the streets
and
put them behind bars for longer.”

New Cities Designated for Violent Crime Task Forces

Today’s announcement expands the Violent Crime Impact Team (VCIT)
initiative
to an additional four cities, including Mesa, Ariz.; Orlando, Fla.; San
Bernardino,
Calif.; and San Juan, Puerto Rico, bringing to 29 the total number of cities
where the successful program has helped combat violent crime.

The VCIT initiative uses innovative technology, analytical investigative
resources
and an integrated federal, state and local law enforcement strategy to
identify,
disrupt, arrest and prosecute the most violent criminals in select cities
across
the nation. Modeled after Project Safe Neighborhoods’ (PSN) successes,
the VCIT initiative’s primary goal is to reduce the number of homicides
and other violent crimes committed with firearms in targeted communities
throughout
the country. Since its launch in 2004, VCIT partners have arrested more than
9,800 gang members, drug dealers, felons in possession of firearms, and
other
violent criminals, including 1,650 identified as “worst of the worst”
criminals,
and recovered more than 11,100 firearms.

“ATF looks forward to taking the success we and our partners have achieved
to these additional VCIT cities,” said ATF Acting Director Michael J.
Sullivan. “This is a program that works and brings the best resources
of federal, state and local law enforcement to bear on violent crime.”

Attorney General Gonzales today also announced the expansion of the FBI’s
Safe Streets Task Force program to include Orlando, Fla. The FBI has more
than
180 Safe Street Task Forces nationwide that focus on gangs and violent
crime.
The task forces are comprised of local, state, and federal investigators
representing
more than 500 law enforcement agencies throughout the United States. By
targeting and dismantling violent organized gangs that wreak havoc in cities
and towns across the country, as well as investigating violent criminals
involved
in federal robberies, carjackings, murders and kidnappings, FBI’s Safe
Streets Task Forces are helping keep America’s cities and neighborhoods
safe.

“Fighting violent crime is deeply rooted in the FBI’s nearly 100-year
history,” stated Assistant Director Kenneth W. Kaiser of the FBI Criminal
Investigative Division. “Key to success is the FBI’s formula
for combating violent crime and gang activity, which includes leveraging our
law enforcement partners, sharing intelligence, and preparing investigations
for prosecution. The FBI is pleased to announce the establishment of its
most recent Safe Streets Task Force in Orlando, adding to the more than 180
Task Forces engaged in disrupting violent crime and dismantling gangs
nationwide.”

New Legislation to More Effectively Fight Violent
Crime

As part of today’s announcement, the Department of Justice proposed the
Violent Crime and Anti-Terrorism Act of 2007, a comprehensive package
including
violent crime legislation that amends and strengthens existing laws to
ensure
that federal law enforcement agencies are able to successfully investigate
and
prosecute many types of violent crime. The proposed bill will improve
existing criminal laws to close gaps and strengthen penalties, provide
greater
flexibility in the penalties that could be imposed on federal firearms
licensees
who violate the Gun Control Act, and restore the binding nature of
sentencing
guidelines. The bill also includes provisions that strengthen laws
pertaining
to drug enforcement, terrorism and child pornography.

Improving Violent Crime Prevention and Strengthening Anti-Gang
Measures:
The proposed bill amends several criminal statutes to close gaps and
strengthen
penalties and existing tools used to combat violent crime, including
firearms
and gang violence. Specifically, these provisions:

Strengthen the statutory prohibition on illegal firearm transfers by
doubling
the maximum penalty for transferring a firearm that will be used to commit
a crime of violence or drug trafficking offense;

Increase the maximum penalty for the general federal criminal conspiracy
statute, making the conspiracy statute more useful in prosecuting
conspiracies to commit offenses, such as firearms offenses, and bringing
the
maximum penalty for conspiracy in line with the sentencing guidelines;

Amend the armed career criminal statute to create a tiered penalty
approach
for felons with prior drug trafficking or violent felony convictions;

Extend the statute of limitations for violent crimes and for
terrorism-related
crimes to 10 years—from five years for violent crimes and eight years
for terrorism-related crimes; and

Create a new statutory prohibition against crimes of violence by illegal
aliens.

Flexible Penalties for Firearms Dealers’ Violations of the Gun Control
Act:
The proposed bill provides additional flexibility in the penalties that can
be imposed on federal firearms licensees (FFLs) that violate the Gun Control
Act. Specifically, the bill will:

Establish additional, graduated sanctions for certain violations of the
federal firearms laws, including suspension of federal firearms licenses
and
imposing civil monetary penalties. Such lesser sanctions will enable ATF
to
more effectively address violations of the Gun Control Act and provide
greater
incentives for licensees to comply with the law.

Restore Binding Nature of Sentencing Guidelines:
For every federal crime, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines provide a range of
punishments
in which a criminal convict’s sentence should fall. In U.S.
v. Booker, the Supreme Court held that the Sentencing Guidelines are
advisory, freeing federal courts to go below the guidelines range when
they
deem it reasonable to do so in specific cases. The proposed Sentencing
Reform Act will:

Restore the binding nature of the guidelines by making the bottom of the
guideline range for each offense a minimum sentence that must be imposed
when
the elements of the offense are proven; and

Provide rights of appeal to both the United States and the defendant to
challenge the sentencing determinations made by the district court.

Other Important Provisions:
In addition to helping law enforcement combat violent crime, the proposed
legislation
also amends and strengthens laws targeting terrorists, sexual predators,
and
drug traffickers. Specifically, these provisions will:

Strengthen laws against sexual predators by establishing a minimum
sentence
of two years for possessing child pornography;

Provide technical improvements to the federal narcotics laws;

Clarify the process for obtaining cell phone location orders in the
context
of an investigation;

Amend terrorism-related authorities to close gaps in the law; and

Provide additional resources and strengthen existing tools for law
enforcement
to combat terrorism.

Today’s announcement comes two weeks after Attorney General Gonzales
unveiled
the framework for a new violent crime strategy to assist federal, state and
local law enforcement in combating violent crime. The new strategy was
developed
after the Attorney General launched the Initiative for Safer Communities to
investigate the increase of certain types of violent crime in 2005 and to
devise
solutions to help communities struggling with violent crime. The strategy
calls for additional prosecutors, new training, more funds, enhanced
prevention
efforts and a crackdown against America’s most violent offenders. The
new efforts announced today supplement the work of federal, state and local
law enforcement already combating violent crime through this strategy.

In addition to the programs mentioned in today’s announcement, the
Department
of Justice continues to provide assistance to state and local law
enforcement
through existing efforts, such as the FBI’s National Gang Intelligence
Center, the U.S. Marshals Service’s (USMS) Regional Fugitive Task Forces
and district fugitive task forces, the Criminal Division-led National Gang
Targeting,
Enforcement & Coordination Center (GangTECC), Project Safe Neighborhoods
(PSN), and the anti-gang strategies that are already in place in each
judicial
district across the country.